Red-headed macaw
Species of bird
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The red-headed macaw or Jamaican green-and-yellow macaw (Ara erythrocephala) may have been a species of parrot in the family Psittacidae that lived in Jamaica, but its existence is hypothetical.
| Red-headed macaw | |
|---|---|
| |
| Hypothetical illustration, John Gerrard Keulemans, 1907 | |
Scientific classification  (disputed) | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Psittaciformes |
| Family: | Psittacidae |
| Genus: | Ara |
| Species: | A. erythrocephala |
| Binomial name | |
| Ara erythrocephala Gosse, 1847 | |
 | |
| Location of Jamaica | |
Description
Rothschild based it on a description which a Mr. Hill had sent to Philip Henry Gosse:
Head red; neck, shoulders, and underparts of a light and lively green; the greater wing coverts and quills, blue; and the tail scarlet and blue on the upper surface, with the under plumage, both of wings and tail, a mass of intense orange yellow. The specimen here described was procured in the mountains of Trelawny and St. Anne's by Mr. White, proprietor of the Oxford estate.[2]
Ara erythrocephala could have been found in the mountains of Trelawney and St. Anne's Parishes, Jamaica.[3] It was described to have been found in the mountains, and presumably in forest as well.[4]
Extinction
It is believed that the main reason for the macaw's extinction was overhunting.[5]
The macaw is extinct,[4] and it is conjectured to have been hunted to extinction in the early 19th century.[6] It was a close relative of the Cuban and Dominican macaws.[6] Its existence is considered dubious today.[7]
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